R3 Blockchain Consortium Expanding: National Bank of Egypt Now Joins

The National Bank of Egypt has been on a mission to encourage the adoption of innovative financial technologies by the financial services industry for a while. On the other hand, Egypt has been advocating a national digital transformation strategy. As such, the recent move by the NBE to join R3, an enterprise software firm’s global blockchain initiative of well over two hundred financial service firms, central banks, technology companies trade associations and regulators, is a step in the right direction.

Exploring Innovation and Efficiency

With this collaboration in place, the NBE will be in a better position to explore the innovation and efficiency that blockchain technology is bound to bring into the banking industry.

According to Hisham Okasha, the chairperson at NBE, the move to join this initiative together with companies and world banks will be instrumental in creating a close monitoring and engagement in developments related to blockchain. He says:

We can better assess the value this technology can bring to the banking industry and the impact it can have on faster and more cost-effective services to our customers for future implementation.

Perfect Opportunity to Go Digital

Courtesy of being part of the alliance, NBE will have the chance to train its IT staff on R3’s on Corda, an enterprise-grade blockchain platform. Additionally, it will be granted access to all technical and research meetings that involve multinational banks and entities. On the other hand, it will also be in a position to get involved in existing projects on blockchain proof-of-concept in various banking applications.

Additionally, the bank will also get the chance to present its project idea as it seeks to apply the technology in one of the banking services. With regards to the Corda concepts, David E Rutter the CEO of R3 commented:

the addition of the National Bank of Egypt to our ever-growing Corda network enhances our engagement with the global financial industry, particularly in the MENA region. Our partners are developing cutting-edge blockchain applications on Corda that will change the way the world does business.

What do you think about NBE’s move to join the R3 Blockchain consortium? Do you think other banks ought to follow suit? Let us know your views in the comments section below.